Rorik was a Neophyte. While such things hardly mattered in the academy, since the difficulty of the training would be tailored to each cadet, it was a fact that he was far from the best of his batch, at least for now. Nero also hadn’t heard any remarkable or notable things about him, though to be fair only a small amount of ti had passed. Even in their shared classes, he did not really stand out.
All in all, at least for now, Rorik was just an average cadet inside KMA. But this average cadet looked Nero straight in the eyes and fought for an opportunity to lead. Maybe it wasn’t to the sa extent, but from him Nero felt a drive similar to his own.
Even though he was average for now, as long as he did not die, Nero was certain that he would go far. That was exactly why Nero gave up the opportunity to lead the team to, instead, take this opportunity to form a connection with Rorik.
Compared to the currently strong, but ambitionless prodigy, Nero felt like Rorik had a much greater potential. That wasn’t to say that Nero thought poorly of Vilhelm. The thing was that in the army, each mission he’d taken so far put his life on the line. A single mistake, a single mont of carelessness was all it would have taken to end his life. In a situation like that, not only did Nero have to take care of himself, but also those under him.
In such a mont, soone like Rorik would be a lot more trustworthy than soone like Vilhelm. Besides, he had said it very simply, but Rorik’s words had a big impact on Nero. To claim that he would never be disappointed if he put his trust in Rorik was assuming a great burden upon Rorik, yet he took it willingly. Only soone like that, only soone with such a ntality had what it took to make it far - of that, Nero was sure.
He would like to converse with Rorik so more, but now wasn’t the ti.
"We should all introduce our abilities to one another so we can coordinate better," said Rorik, looking from Nero to the other two. "Since we’re not sure of what the course entails, we’ll need to react quickly. Based on the cards we’ve been given, I can at least guess a few things.
"Since I’m the team leader, I’ll go first. I have an active innate ability which allows to create gold..."
Before Rorik could elaborate at all, one of the listening cadets interrupted.
"Wait, what? You can make gold! Like, actual gold?" he asked, shocked. Fortunately, he had not raised his voice, or his words might have been heard by others as well.
"Yes, real, actual gold," Rorik said as he flicked his thumb, producing a unique gold coin with Rorik’s face on both sides. The gold coin flipped in the air for a bit before falling back inside Rorik’s hand as if it had been an illusion. "But gold is a very dense tal, so I can’t make too much of it at once, or it drains all my aether. Fortunately, I can also absorb gold to replenish my aether..."
The cadet seed even more shocked, interrupting once again.
"You can do what? Does that an you can regain aether from any gold?" he asked.
His questions were valid, but the timing was inappropriate and Nero could easily see that the constant interruptions were irritating Rorik. Compared to how differential the two behaved in front of Nero, their behaviour in front of Rorik was too different. Nero did not intervene, however.
Learning how to subdue one’s subordinates effectively was an important skill one needed to learn. Nero realised that not everyone had the privilege of being trained from birth like him, so for Rorik this was a valuable opportunity.
"I was going to elaborate on that, but since you’re not interested in letting finish my words, I’ll let it be," Rorik said, staring at the cadet with a clearly dissatisfied expression. .
"Oh, sorry," the cadet responded, scratching his head with an awkward smile. He still couldn’t get over the fact that Rorik could produce gold. In fact, even Nero found it incredible. The man was a walking money machine - it was quite a wonder that he wanted to join the army instead of enjoying his literally unlimited wealth.
Gold was valuable not only because of its aetheric conductivity, but because it was highly resistant to the corrosive effects of Cursed energy. It was one of the most standard materials used to construct equipnt that could resist Cursed energy.
"I can produce a fla that absorbs energy and produces a cooling effect," said Nero quite simply, without elaborating too deeply. He lit a fire on the tip of his finger to show the group what he ant.
The cadet who kept interrupting scratched his head once more, and looked around awkwardly.
"I guess I’ll go next. The na is Brad from Astarties, and I have a passive that increases my movent speed."
To demonstrate, he quickly took a few steps back before returning to his, his movent an entire blur. Nero raised an eyebrow, impressed. As far as passives went, that was not a bad one at all. It could improve his combat ability drastically, and at the sa ti it increased his survivability by a lot.
The last cadet, who looked absolutely nervous even now, went last.
"My na is Harvey Bird from Marcus battalion, nice to et you. My innate ability is... not very helpful in this course. It basically just keeps my mind fresh regardless of the situation - I can go without sleep for weeks and my brain won’t feel a hint of drowsiness nor will it drop in performance."
Nero raised an eyebrow. He could see that Harvey was quite insecure about his innate ability - it was written all over his face. It was true that the innate ability was not the most fantastical, but that didn’t an that it wasn’t good. Being able to stay ntally fresh regardless of circumstances ant that he would be excellent in prolonged conflicts.
"It’s good to have you with us, Harvey," said Rorik firmly, not even sparing a second. He showed no indication of being dissatisfied with the innate ability, and nor did Nero which put him sowhat at ease. Brad seed to have so thoughts, but after being told off once, he kept his mouth shut - at least for now.
"Now, I went over all the cards we got, and it seems we all have the sa cards. Nero just has a higher rank of the sa card. That most likely ans that without teamwork, it’ll be incredibly tough to go through this course. I can also venture that, due to his higher ranking cards, Nero’s cards will have the sa effect as two or three of us working together - at least for the cards that require teamwork.
"We’ll have to use that in our strategy, yet reacting quick enough not to waste ti will be sowhat of a challenge. That’s why I need you all to listen closely to my orders, and try not to act on your own if you can help it, lest it affects the team."
No one had any objections, at least for now, so the team made their way to the starting line behind Rorik’s lead. The professor standing there was surprised to see that Rorik was leading the group, instead of Nero, but did not comnt on it. Instead, he started to explain the requirents to complete the course.
"At the start of the course, you all will be given a secure package that needs to be transported to the end of the course. The package is fragile, so so of you will need to work together to keep it protected.
"From the mont you start the course, you will have twenty minutes to complete it, and should you be unable to reach your destination in that ti, you will be considered to have failed. Similarly, if the package breaks before the end of the course, you will fail. If any of the cadets in the team are unable to reach the end of the course on their own, your team will fail.
"Also, keep in mind that multiple teams will be running the course at the sa ti due to ti constraints. You are not allowed to attack the other teams, or impede them in any way. You cannot take their package in case your own breaks either. Do you all understand the rules?"
Rorik nodded, so the professor brought them to the ’package’ causing Nero to look at the professor as if he was joking. He was not.
The package they needed to deliver was an empty, green coloured vase. They had literally taken a random, fragile object and turned that into the package that needed delivering.
As absurd as the idea was, Nero had to admit, it worked. Making sure that the vase didn’t break or chip while they completed the course would be a challenge.
User Comments
0 comments from readers